Under the moonlight

Chapter 134, Section 1: Broken Bones

"This way, Zhao Meng, you walk this way." Xu Ao was directing the two of them, each holding one end of the rope and a stick in their hand, walking and probing the way as they went.

Zhao Meng walked to his left, Li Shuo walked to his right, and Xu Ao stood at the edge of the pit where Li Shuo had fallen yesterday, with Xu Ao as the center point.

"Do they want to see how big this pit is?" Jiang Ying guessed.

"Yes, Xu Ao stands in the middle as the center, and the two of them take ropes and walk to the sides. When they are the same distance from Xu Ao, they stop moving. Then Xu Ao walks to the opposite side of where he is now standing. By doing this, he can roughly tell how big the pit is. You see, Xu Ao is connected to the two of them by ropes around his waist."

Huang Meng pointed to the rope hanging between the three people. They were close to Xu Ao earlier, so the rope hadn't been pulled apart. Jiang Ying looked at it carefully and nodded. "Hmm, if there really is a pit, it will be round. We don't need to worry about that. Nobody would bother digging a square pit. We just need to see how big it is."

The two of them quietly watched the three of them move. Because the weeds were too tall, even with sticks to probe the way, they were still moving very slowly. Although Huang Meng and Jiang Ying were far away, they were still worried for them. However, Huang Meng soon noticed something unusual. "Strange, why are there no insects?"

"You've noticed it too, haven't you? Given the natural environment here, these tall weeds are practically a paradise for all sorts of insects, yet despite all the commotion, there's not a single insect chirping," Jiang Ying said softly, her eyes fixed on the scene ahead.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see." The two stopped talking and quietly waited on the wall.

By this time, they saw that Zhao Meng and Li Shuo had reached their respective opposite sides, and the ropes in their hands were almost taut, as was the section of rope that bound them to Xu Ao.

Zhao Meng and Li Shuo each shook the rope that Xu Ao was tied to, signaling Xu Ao to move, while the two of them stood still and waited.

Upon receiving the signal, Xu Ao began to slowly walk past Zhao Meng's side. Since Zhao Meng had already walked past it once, Xu Ao was much faster. However, after bypassing Zhao Meng, the subsequent stretch of the road became much slower. By the time Xu Ao finally stood in the same spot as before, it was already dark.

Their main task for the day had not yet begun. Zhao Meng and Li Shuo tied a knot in the ropes they each had, marked it, and then quickly untied and put the ropes away.

In the dim light, Huang Meng and Jiang Ying could hardly make out their movements; only their blurry figures were visible.

Zhao Meng and Li Shuo began to walk towards Xu Ao. Then they untied the rope and retied it to Xu Ao. They wanted to explore the bottom of the pit. When they were measuring the size of the pit, Xu Ao could clearly see burn marks on the weeds around the pit when he looked down.

With the help of Zhao Meng and Li Shuo, he slowly descended along the pit wall. Fortunately, the rope they brought was long enough. When the rope was more than halfway down, the rope in their hands shook violently. It was Xu Ao's signal to them, and the two of them let go.

Xu Ao stood at the bottom of the pit, the ground beneath his feet uneven and sharp in some places. He took out a small flashlight tucked into his waistband, not worried about being discovered since he was in the pit. He initially thought the sharp objects would be rocks hidden in the soil, so he crouched down without suspicion and carefully examined the bottom of the pit. Under the light, he saw something white exposed. Could it be ore? White ore?

Xu Ao poked around with the handle of his flashlight a few times, revealing a larger white area with fine holes. The surface didn't look as smooth as a stone. Out of curiosity, he reached out and took the white thing out to examine it carefully with the flashlight.

Xu Ao held it in his hand and looked at it from side to side. When he saw the broken ends, he suddenly realized something, cried out in surprise, and quickly threw the thing away. Then he subconsciously wiped his hands on his pants.

The thing he just saw reminded him of the big bones his family used when stewing pork ribs, but much bigger, especially the broken part, which contained dark marrow.

"What's wrong?" Upon hearing the exclamation, Li Shuo, who was above, quickly asked.

"It's nothing." Xu Ao had to calm down for a while, but his heart was still pounding, so he quickly said.

He stood up, swaying a few times before regaining his balance. He circled the aperture around the bottom of the pit, and all he could see beneath the dark mud was a faint white. He then looked down at his feet, lifted his foot, and saw the same thing underneath.

Xu Ao couldn't help but stagger back two steps, almost falling to the ground. He barely managed to steady himself, suppressing his fear and discomfort, and shone the flashlight around the pit. Compared to the darkness at the bottom of the pit, the blackness on the pit walls gradually faded and lessened.

Xu Ao closed his eyes, silently recited a few words to calm himself down, then picked up the piece of "bone" he had just thrown away, closed his eyes again, and stuffed it into his pants pocket in one go. Then he shook the rope violently, and the two people who received the signal quickly pulled him up.

After coming up, Xu Ao quickly ran to the side, took a few deep breaths of fresh air, and then called Zhao Meng and Li Shuo to hurry back. On the way, no matter what Li Shuo asked him, he did not answer or speak, and just walked in silence.

Huang Meng and Jiang Ying could barely see them anymore, but they could still hear Li Shuo's voice. They quickly got off the stools, put them aside, and stood there like hunters, waiting for their prey to run into the tree stump.

"Hey, just tell me what's down there, and what's your name?" Li Shuo asked Xu Ao, still unwilling to give up, as Zhao Meng had already climbed over the wall.

Xu Ao still had a stern face, as if he hadn't heard Li Shuo's voice. If what was inside was the same as what he thought, then it would mean that those mercenaries had secretly dug a pit next to the embassy and burned the corpses. What kind of corpses were they burning?

As soon as Zhao Meng jumped down, he saw Huang Meng standing with her arms crossed, looking at him leisurely. As soon as they met eyes, Huang Meng glared at him and made a shushing gesture, then pulled him aside to stand. Knowing he was in the wrong, Zhao Meng quietly stood there.

Next was Li Shuo. He glanced back at Xu Ao, still not intending to tell him the truth. He shook his head and reluctantly climbed onto the wall. The result was similar to Zhao Meng's, except that Jiang Ying covered his mouth and pulled him over by the neck. But even if he reminded Xu Ao, it would be useless. He couldn't just hide behind the wall and not come back!

So in the end, the three of them obediently followed behind Huang Meng and Jiang Ying, and went to find Lao Huang, because Xu Ao said that they had to find him quickly in order to figure out what was in the pit.

Xu Ao told them to wait in the lobby while he called Lao Huang over, to avoid too many people causing trouble. Soon after, Lao Huang finished disinfecting and went to the lobby with Xu Ao.

Xu Ao quickly took something out of his pocket. "This was found at the bottom of the pit. Take a look."

Old Huang didn't ask any more questions. He never worried about anything else. He put on his glasses, picked up the things on the table, and examined them carefully. "Hiss~ Huh?"

The group looked at Old Huang with furrowed brows and puzzled expressions, their gazes all turning to the object in his hand. Li Shuo couldn't help but ask, "Old Huang, do you know him? I remember you're a doctor!"

“Yeah, it’s because I’m a doctor, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to understand it?” Old Huang rolled his eyes at Li Shuo and continued, “This is a piece of adult bone, it should be a section of the lower leg bone, but this piece of bone was broken. You see, at the fracture, and inside it is dark red, not dark red, it should have been broken before death. You can’t see anything else. Also, for large pieces of bone like this, even burning won’t burn them completely. You see the dense pits on the surface, those are traces of the bone being burned, but it probably didn’t take long and the heat wasn’t enough.”

After finishing speaking, Old Huang solemnly placed it on the table and looked at the people in front of him.

“Xu Ao, you’re something else. You brought back a human skeleton. Aren’t you afraid of this in the middle of the night…” After hearing Lao Huang’s words, Li Shuo silently moved a few steps away from Xu Ao, gave him a thumbs up, and said with a look of horror. What he feared most was that someone would only say half of what they wanted to say at this time. The remaining half was the most terrifying.

"Jiang Ying, after I left, didn't you notice anything unusual behind the wall?" Although Xu Ao was also scared, this matter was the most important.

"No, my colleagues at the embassy were all relieved. I knew the security camera by the wall was broken, but the riot was over, so we thought we could ignore it for now and focus on other things," Jiang Ying said somewhat guiltily. It was indeed her fault; Chen Che had mentioned it to her. However, at the time, their focus was on work documents. Besides, the mercenaries were gone, so who would be causing trouble around the C country embassy?

“If Lao Huang is right, then the bottom of the pit is full of this kind of stuff. They not only secretly dug a pit behind the embassy wall, but also burned corpses in it. Perhaps to prevent you from finding out, they dug the pit very deep, and the burning of the corpses in it didn’t last long, which is why you didn’t notice,” Xu Ao said with a frown.

"Then what's the point of them going to all that trouble to dig a pit? And these corpses shouldn't be the bodies of those who died from the plague, right?" Zhao Meng's words reminded everyone.

Huang Meng suddenly said, "That's right, didn't Old Huang say that the corpses were hit before they died? Those who could be infected with the plague are the survivors. If they were hit, they might not even live to see the outbreak of the plague."

“So, it’s very likely that they burned the very corpses they used to cause the plague,” Xu Ao said coldly, staring at the broken bones on the table.

"Why? Why do this?!" Li Shuo's question was also something they couldn't understand: why go through all that trouble to dig a pit and then burn the body.

"But now it's certain that they dragged the bodies over from elsewhere, otherwise the embassy would have been the first to be affected in this plague they orchestrated."

“Yes, Zhao Meng is right, but the way they dragged the bodies that caused the plague here to burn them... it just feels a bit..."

“Provocation, or rather, demonstration,” Huang Meng continued, picking up where Jiang Ying left off.

After Huang Meng finished speaking, everyone fell silent, especially Xu Ao and Huang Meng. They exchanged a glance, and the face of one person simultaneously appeared in their minds: the mercenary leader.